Samsung Electronics "struck a deal" with the IOC on Sunday to "officially sponsor the Olympic Games until 2020," according to the KOREA HERALD. Under the deal, Samsung "will sponsor South Korea's PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 by supplying a wide range of devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops for athletes and other participants" (KOREA HERALD, 8/17). REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported Samsung "first signed up as a top sponsor with the IOC in 1998 and was a local sponsor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as well." Although the IOC "does not reveal contract details of its sponsorship agreements, the deals with its top sponsors generate an estimated" $100M per quadrennium (REUTERS, 8/17).

With 59% of construction now completed, grass at the Rio 2016 Olympic Golf Course in Barra da Tijuca has been sown on five of the 18 holes, with irrigation reaching more than two thirds of the course. Brazilian Olympic Committee Venue Management Planning GM Gustavo Nascimento said, "After this stage comes the 'bedding-in' period, during which we monitor the growth of this 'live' process." Nascimento added that the grass is expected to take around 11 months to grow. The irrigation system covers 400,000 square meters of sandy ground and is one of the most modern in the world, with all of the pumps, pipes and 3,000 sprinklers imported from the U.S. (Rio 2016).

Nigeria "has decided to pull out of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games on Saturday after the other two West African countries Sierra Leone and Liberia had already withdrawn from the Games a day earlier due to the spread of deadly virus Ebola in the region." IOC President Thomas Bach "confirmed the withdrawal." Bach: "Two NOCs (Sierra Leone and Liberia) decided together with their government to not come here. We have to respect the decision of the government in such a difficult moment for their country. We also have been informed that the team of Nigeria wants to go home" (XINHUA, 8/16). ... Former IOC President Jacques Rogge said that Beijing "will do a 'very good job' if it wins the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games." Rogge said that the Chinese people "have the capability of organizing any big event" (XINHUA, 8/15).